And a thriving Art scene...

Is probably why so many people stay in Whitehorse.

For a town of 20,000 people,

it has an overabundance of competent artists and performers, as well as great venues to view them in.

The Yukon Art Gallery (doesn't quite have the dirty ring of the VAG, Vancouver Art Gallery) but a pretty grand space. Has frequent and good art openings, ranging from the incomprehensible to the interesting. Openings have good free food usually catered from the Chocolate Claim. The largest theatre space is also encompassed in the space, and it is clean, new and the acoustics and light are fantastic. Many shows occur at the theatre, and even film festivals. The Weakerthans are coming in May!

Yukon Artists at Work is located out in the boonies in an industrial area on Glacier road. To add to the appeal, another gallery called Copper Moon just opened up a week or so ago underneath it, in a warehouse-like space. YAW is a quirky, fun little place and the art is pricey. Atmosphere is very inviting, even if it is a trek to get out there. It is staffed by artists participating in the co-operative displaying their art for sale at the gallery.

Arts Underground is a delightful little place, supported by the Houghen family. Art for sale as well as on display from the McBride Museum. Fantastic openings, great food and a location that can't be beat. Never miss their openings!

The Old Firehall located at the end of Main Street also showcases art on occasion, as well as hosting film festivals and events. Currently at the gallery is Dark Days, a collection of art from local artists. Showcasing performance art, poetry, film and music for Thursday and Friday nights.

Sundog Carving is a gallery and program to assist at-risk youth in exploring carving, primarily traditional first-nations works. Haven't been to their openings but I believe they do have them, possibly only once or twice a year.

I'm pretty sure there are more, but these are the heavy-hitters!

Who do you listen to?

On the radio, that is.

There are a couple options here. We're not talking like Sirius or anything good you have to pay for, but honest, small towney radio stations. There are the usual suspects- CBC radio. I enjoy their national programming but their local stuff is incredibly boring (like reading CBC News North or watching it on TV, there just isn't anything there!)

CKRW is another locally broadcast that attempts to fill the void of classic rock mixed with, ooh edgy, Katy Perry. It has the most advertising, and therefore falls into bed with every citizen of Whitehorse wishing to advertise and pay for the pleasure. This can also lead to extreme self-censoring if you happen to be an employee of CKRW and have unpleasant business dealings with a potential or current advertiser. Typical of any station "selling" themselves, they are suffering in this economic downturn.

CHON-FM the local first nations station. Good news coverage and some interesting music programming. Something I enjoy, they attend just as many news events as CKRW. Good for you, CHON-FM.

In short, if you are looking for 'The Beat' or any rap oriented station, best go the Sirius route. And I hear they filed for bankruptcy. Hmmmm...

You'll never make a pizza in this town again!

There are quite a few pizza 'parlours' here. So many that I thought they deserved their own blog entry. Let's start with the known:

Pizza Hut. Kind of speaks for itself. Greasy, but I had it the other day and it wasn't too shabby, nothing fancy, just a pepperioni. I have noticed that some Pizza Huts have been going out of business but this one is going strong.

Boston Pizza. Always a classic in every town, I had their pepperoni supreme the other day and it sucked, surprisingly. My vote is for the unusual but oh so excellent perogy pizza. Always a good pick!

Domino's. Cheap, not really that cheap in price, as you may find with every pizza place her. Ok in a pinch, doesn't open until 4pm so no lunchtime pizza orders.

Tony's in the Horwood's mall. Ugh. I was very excited about this pizza until we ordered it. First of all they mistook when we wanted our pizza, so we had to wait for 30 mins extra. Then, the pizza itself? I have had frozen pizzas with more zip and texture. Disappointing and very expensive at $30 for one freaking large pizza that was maybe one step above school lunchtime pizzas in high school. AVOID.

Bocelli's. Have heard very good things about them, but when I called they weren't open until Feb. 27th, and only 4pm onwards so no luck with the lunchtime pizza crowd. Might try them again when the pizza craving hits.

Rendezvous Wrap-up

The festivities at Shipyards park were pretty neat. Snow sculptures are really coming along, a really awesome Russian/Kremlin one stands out as particularly professional. The 'Cabane a Sucre' served up teeth-destroying strands of maple taffy on sticks, which my friends promptly bought, enjoyed for 2 minutes, and then tossed.

The dog costumes were a real hit, the winner was a cute little ragamuffin dressed up as a blushing bride, with her handler as the handsome groom. So cute! The dog pull (dogs pull their own weight) featured some incredibly huge dogs. Think dog mixed with bear. Also, a chihuahua pulled a styrofoam box.

We stayed to watch the wife carry, which was pretty hilarious. Husbands (or boyfriends) hefted their significant others in a pretty insignificant way...over their shoulders, piggybacking...no fireman's carry though. They trotted through bending poles, along top a balancing bar, weaved through tires on the ground in a figure-8 and jumped a hurdle. One couple fell at least twice. It was pretty exciting!

The burlesque show at Coasters, by touring burlesque dancers 'Soul Sisters Burlesque' out of Vancouver was a great way to end. Expensive ($20 for the night) but a good production with amazing costumes and dancers. Highlights include the 'Alien' dancer costumed to represent the future complete with alien-style headdress and claws, and a shout-out to the gold panners of the Yukon with all the burlesque dancers prancing around in Rosie-the-Riveter jumpsuits and pans of glitter. A loooong night though. Yikes.

All in all, a great way to wrap up Rendezvous. And I wish I could say it did herald the coming thaw, but it is -25 today.

Rendezvous Weekend!

Where else can you celebrate being a tough old sourdough, or a freshly risen cheechako (still have no clue what that word means). Being a sourdough means you have lived here long enough to culture risen dough in your pants...so about 25 years. Sorry, count me out! Is there one for people who plan on moving soon? Hahah.

Whitehorse Rendezvous is a celebration of sorts, originally to herald the coming thaw season. Now it's just to prevent everyone from going psychotic on each other due to long winters and frozen temps. Much frivolity is to be had by all.

Wife carrying, log tossing, flour carrying, axe tossing...yep, all them newfangled tricks!

Also, a beard-growing and ladies leg-hair growing contest. An aside: the descriptions for the contests tout men's beards as 'manly, burly, wonderful, masculine' whereas the women's leg-hair is simply 'horrifying'. Yeah, well I don't consider it horrifying and I'm not exactly a dirty hippie either. I hate facial hair on men, why isn't that considered as horrifying as leg hair on women? *gasp* she hasn't shaved?? Oh call out the guards!!!

But it should be fun anyways. Pretty much everyone gets Friday off, thank the gods!

Also there is snow-sculpturing going on in the park, which is not as cool as ice sculptures, but pretty neat anyways.

Enjoy your rendezvous!

Fast Food!

We have in spades.

McDonald's? Check

Timmies? Two!

Starbucks? Two!

Subway? Two!

Quiznos? Check

A&W? Check

KFC? Check

The only ones I think we are missing...Dairy Queen and Wendy's.

Harvey's nobody misses.

Also, not sure if Pizza Hut (almost wrote Hug) counts, but we do have that too. I think that could go in a separate 'pizza' section, because this town has pizza joints all over.

Word is, the Dairy Queen went out of business and is now a Dairy-Queen-looking building that houses the shabby, neglected CAIRS association. Too bad.

Prices up here for fast food definitely varies. A Tim Horton's cookie is $1.03 here, whereas in the South a cookie is under $1.00, more like $.69. Also, a sundae from McDonalds is over $1.00, think $1.69, compared with a sundae in Wenatchee, which is a buck. Darn.

There is the age-old Subway vs. Quizno's debate, which I think is silly. The only reason Subway *might* edge out Quizno's in this town is because Quizno's has the shittiest location of all of them- near Lister's motorsports (don't get me started) and the abandoned Canadian Tire, complete with drunks stumbling around clutching brown paper bags of Listerine. Not a fine dining experience.

Subway, in comparison, is downtown and in the mall next to Employment Central. Very 'central' if I might say. But Quizno's is far superior to that microwaved shit Subway calls sandwiches.

Yukon Hydro

Power is out again. That makes this at least the 6th time so far since I have moved here (in July) that the power has fizzled on us.

Sometimes it is a pretty big plus- ie, at work near the end of the day...sometimes it's a big minus-at work at the end of the day and your boss won't let you leave early, even though the security alarms are beeping madly at each other and sitting in the dark staring at your computer screen is ruining your eyes...

Oh and I fervently hope power is on at home. I pay an absolute fortune for the priviledge of electricity ($130 in the dead of winter using electricity sparingly, and just two people), and I just hope my fridge is running to greet me at the door.
Yukon Hydro is mindblowingly expensive, well, we do have to plug cars in so they don't freeze to death, and somebody has to keep that salary in the range of $200,000+ going for the dear CEO of Yukon Hydro. Think of the people!

Pointless. And the alarms are still going nuts on each other.

Movie Theatres

Yes, Whitehorse has 2 of 'em. I don't know about the rest of the world, but I was surprised.

The movie theatres are owned by the same company (Landmark) and are equally ancient. Word is a larger complex, like SilverCity will be moving to the Chilkoot centre, but that word has also been going around for a few years, so, like 'telephone' the message has gotten garbled and forgotten.

One theatre is called the Qwanlin and the other, the 'Yukon.' Apparently the Qwanlin is the nicer one but I honestly can't tell the difference.

The seats are a dusty red velvety colour, the screen rather pockmarked like a young teen, and the popcorn positively reeks. Oh, but they use margerine, for superior taste!

I have been in the office of the Qwanlin and it was hideous. There was a couch, a desk, and garbage. So much garbage. Oh well, seems to work for them.

The picture quality is pretty decent, it cut out in the middle of a crucial scene of the newest James Bond movie, but it only happened once. Oh and one time we showed up to the Yukon and the heater was broken. It was a very chilly movie experience.

I just wouldn't advocate using the washrooms (frightening, no locks work, gratuitous graffiti...) or eat the popcorn (from this decade??)

Enjoy the show! Currently playing: Qwanlin: Paul Blart :Mall Cop and The Pink Panther (really..)

Yukon: Friday the 13th (excellent!) He's Just Not That Into You (no comment)

Whitehorse does sales BADLY (groceries and Shoppers Drug Mart)

Disregarding the wonderful store that was Liquidation World, sales for food and general necessities that have gone stale or out of season just do not happen.

Not including clothes or thrift/consignment shops, sales are non-existant here. For example, Super Valu grocery store next to Employment Central and Larry Bagnell's office is going out of business. I guess they couldn't see it coming, not having a crystal ball with which to view the future, but c'mon on, one stop in there and even I could see it.

President's Choice items offered even though they are offered at both Extra Foods and Superstore. Only, the tea that costs $1.94 at Superstore, and $2.30 at Extra Foods is $2.59 ON SALE at "Super Valu."

I understand that once upon a time, Super Valu was Food Fair and the only game in town. Well I'm sorry, but the game has changed and you're losing.

Freezer-burned steaks for $9.00, on sale? Eww. Do you know how long it takes for meat to get freezer burned and start decomposing? I'll give you a hint- I found ground beef in my freezer from August. It is now grey. There you go.

Maxwell House instant flavoured coffee is insanely pricey. $6.47 for Vanilla, and bizarrely, $8.69 for Hazelnut.

Oh and did I mention they are going out of business? Tomorrow?

I stopped by today and sales are, oh gosh, are you ready...30% off.

Pfffft.

Here's a wake-up call. You are selling candycanes for $1.00 when Xmas was almost 2 months ago. The flavoured instant coffee is $5.47 at TWO other places in town. Stop trying to squeeze a dollar out of every product until it screams.

Also, I get a jab at Shoppers in this one. They are doing fine, healthy in this unhealthy market.

Their coffee (same as above post, instant, flavoured) is $6.99. Not a deal.

They are selling red, white and green smarties, hershey's kisses and a ton of other Christmas crap 'on sale' and it is FEBRUARY. Here's a tip, if merchandise is not moving off the shelves, say, in a month-- Mark it DOWN. Not rocket science.

No, sorry, you can't get $8.99 for those green boxes of Toblerones. Or $4.99 for Terry's Chocolate oranges with cute little pictures of holly. Or $3.50 for Lindor Reindeers with bells. Or $1.50 for bags of Xmas hershey kisses.

Jesus people, are you honestly going to hang onto that stale, bloomed chocolate crap until EASTER? In my defence, I honestly buy chocolate on sale and love every bite. But I also bought some interesting Vitamin Chocolate the other day and it was stale as hell and tasted like shit. Sale? Not so much. Boo.

Good luck, and good riddance.

Shopping redux: Thrifty and Interesting, the Consignment post

Whitehorse is a good town for consignment/thrift shopping. Although I am a huge fan of Value-Village's half-off day, let's face it- you can't get that lucky in a town like this.

So we have a couple options. Starting with the classic, Salvation Army Thrift Shop has a not bad selection. Always requires lots of hunting, and I even saw a purse someone found there that looked to be a genuine Coach bag. Diamond in the rough! Do not buy parkas/warm jackets in winter, they are guaranteed to be marked up about 100% from what they were in summer...and who wants to pay full price for a used item? C'mon! Located in an interesting location attached to a gas station. Easy to miss, closed on Sundays.

All for You is a nebulous hybrid of thrift and consignment. Which means it does both badly. Crammed, badly lit, huge and disorganized. Also, expensive. Another check mark against it. Go there if you want, but be prepared for disappointment. Not worth it.

Sequels Consignment is class enough to be considered a regular store, not just consignment. Nicely laid out, very good quality stuff and new items as well. Sales are good, just keep an eye on an item and it will drop in price dependent on how it long it has stayed in the store. Very nice and definitely worth a visit. Good for work clothes too, as well as fancy-dress items from Jessica McClintock, located in the back-right corner of the shop. Located next to the Chocolate Claim, pretty central to town.

And Again Consignment. You know, every time I try to go there they are closed. Closed Mondays, and they were closed the beginning of February as well. Therefore, haven't had a chance to pay them a visit, so this is what I have heard. Good, but not as good as Sequels, nor as cheap as Salvation Army. Kind of a middle ground I suppose. Located moderately centrally next to the Roadhouse and a few bars of very dubious nature- ie, drunks yelling at each other at 2pm on a Monday. But that's just during the summer, it's too cold for that shit now.

The HIGH cost of low living

Here's a rant post, because I have noticed them getting cheery as of late.

(Actually, it would be wonderful if they were all happy, bunnies and sunshine, but life isn't like that and neither am I)

Here are the facts:

Electricity for a 1600sq. ft. place for two people in the winter living extremely frugally for a month is $130. Add two people who waste electricity, plug 3 cars in and leave TV's, heaters, computers, lights on and that amount goes to $240 per month.

Even the 2 people have a high electricity bill. Keep in mind this doesn't include heat. Heat is gas, bought by the tank around $800-1,000 per fill up.

Internet is offered by Northwestel, your best bet. It is obscenely expensive, cuts out often and if you want to pay $60/month for this luxury, you get capped at 10gb.
If you dare exceed that bandwith/dwnld limit, you get fucked in half.
Exceeding the limit by a bit caused an extra $137 ontop of the already insane $60/month.
Remember folks, this doesn't include cable TV, phone...nothing. Just 'net. If you do want a higher limit, you pay over $100/month for internet.

Gas for your car is more expensive, although it compares favourably with BC right now after BC's lovely carbon tax. Currently gas is 89.9, up from yesterday's 84.9. Bummer.
Watch out for the Petro Canada, Race Trac Gas and pretty much every gas station that isn't Superstore's. Prices are always higher, unless they absolutely can't get away with a higher price, then it is the same, grudgingly.
If you move here from the South, you will have to outfit your car. Winter tires? $800. Block heater and battery pad? $300. Oil and fluids check? $300. Please don't get me started on the necessities of warm winter clothes. It started off -27 today, almost the middle of Feb.

Having fun yet?

Don't think that because you are paying out the ass for everything that you will automatically land the job of the century. You might, and rock on! But you are just as likely to be downsized.

Yes there is a good Library!

Thank the gods!

The Whitehorse Public Library is not fancy to look at. It is drab and boring and very governmental (attached to a Federal building) and kind of greenish-dark.

What it lacks in looks, it makes up in books!

Good selection of paperbacks, fiction only--the nonfiction paperbacks are hilarious and lame (Living Pesticide-Free in the '70's!) but who reads nonfiction paperbacks, one exception being 'Steal This Book!'

Hardcovers abound and they are plentiful. Pretty much any subject is well represented, if a little mislabeled. I found David Sedaris under fiction. He is not fiction, never has been. Ha, oh well.

I picked out a good representation of soap-making books, only one of which looked like it was from 1960, the others were pretty slick.

One librarian I see frequently is rather troll-like. I do see her often, and yet I have never actually seen her walk. That's right, she wheels everywhere on her office chair. From the front desk, back to the movies, to the front desk again.

She is bulgy and overweight and wears stretch pants that may or may not be stained. I am pretty sure she can walk too, no wheelchair or walker in sight.

Magazines are decent but selection rather limited. The movies are very good, so far I have 'rented' Pan's Labryinth, See No Evil, The Bone Collector and a whole bunch others, can't quite recall. Very good selection!

I would almost say, despite cramming paperbacks in so they aren't remotely organized by author, this library rocks.

Review of Hey Ocean! at Coasters Saturday, February 7th

Brilliant!

I have followed Hey Ocean! over the years, from Victoria shows at Steamers to New Years Eve's in Vancouver, opening with pals Lotus Child. The music on Saturday was bright, sparkly and fun.
Bringing in some new sounds, Hey Ocean! is starting to really hit their stride. They are finding a great balance between funk and pop-rock. Ashleigh Ball rocked out with the clarinet.
To my dismay, they didn't bring in 'Eskimo Kisses,' which was a perennial favourite of mine. Oh well, on with the new stuff!
The sound is smoother, the crowd interaction top-notch, specially when Ashleigh hopped off the stage to dance among her admirers. Accessible and fun, Hey Ocean! just keeps getting better and better.

Follow this band, they are definitely on the rise!

In an expensive town, Freebies are king!

Everything is indeed more expensive in Whitehorse. Electricity, home-heating, gas, food, restaurants, pet supplies, you name it, we pay more for it.

But never in my life have I been in a town that has so many awesome opportunities to indulge in free food! And I'm talking good stuff, like wine, deli meats, pineapple, appetizers, good cheese, chocolate, nuts, oh everything!

These opportunities for free food usually present themselves in 2 ways: Art gallery openings or grand openings/open houses. Open houses tend to be a bit more frugal in the food giveaways, normally consisting of Timmies coffee and doughnuts, but we attended a glorious opening of Coast Mountain Sports that had wine, Lindor chocolate, cheese and all the snacks you could possibly hope for.

Gallery openings range from the deli-meat, cheese and fruit platters to extravagant and wonderful platters of oriental snacks from the Chocolate Claim, berries, Moroccan food...

So I say, attend all you can, soak up the culture and enjoy that free food! Nothing in life is free...except this!

Stratas are a ripoff everywhere (including in the North)

There are a few interesting condo options available for sale in Whitehorse. From townhouses to one-bedroom apartments downtown, they all are fairly nice and affordable.

EXCEPT

The evil lurking beneath the nice layer of affordable, decent mortgage payments, electricity...is the STRATA fee. Even townhouses that share no walls, roofs, landscaping or interior walls are subject to these unnecessary evils. A townhouse (older) up on Lewes Bvld was gorgeous, newly redone and a nice price. The downside? Electricity would be average $200 and the strata would be $200 a month.

For what, exactly?

Oh, strata handles snow removal, garbage removal, bullshit removal (actually no, made that last one up)

Utility items you must pay the city for ALREADY and trust me, they don't cost $200/month, they cost $285 for 4 months. Love that funny 'math' eh.

Does strata handle repairs? Nope. Is strata considered a sort of outdoor handy-man?

Nope, gotta jack up those strata fees to hire a handyman, in case of repairs.

Strata gets to tell what to do. Isn't that wonderful? Shouldn't we all be reaching into our pockets to hand cash out to people to tell us

"You must pay $50 every time a new tenant moves into your place, a 'move-in fee"

"No pets allowed in YOUR house/apt."

"Not allowed renting to others if you move and keep the place"

"We want to update the fire alarms systems. Give us an extra $500 on top of your exorbitant fees." (wait, aren't they banking the cash to handle these things already?)

"We voted and strata fees are going up again." No, it really doesn't end. From $140 in the beginning, to $162, to $182 and now, oh joy, $213. A cool avg. $20 rise per year. Wish my job was that sweet. That last one is a 'kick them while the economy is in a recession' move.

Warning, strata fees will never GO DOWN. EVER.

They will only rise.

Interestingly, I looked at a little house on Falcon, the nest-type 'green' buildings, independently built so no townhouse-styles. They have a strata starting at $150/month, to rise when the 'clubhouse' is built. 'Cause you know, they need your money.

Run screaming for the hills, potential buyers. They will only screw you over.

Sorry if this blog is rather tinfoil-hat wearing. Better wise than broke~

Shopping (the lack thereof) for clothes

Whitehorse has two kinds of stores: boutiques, often 'made in the Yukon' and big-box stores.

The boutiques are very, very expensive.

We are talking about clothes.

Seasons Galleria is a women's clothing store with underwear and nice footwear, and carries UGG boots. It is quite pricey, and the sales are nothing special. Nice stuff though, Mexx clothing, Sketchers, Rocketdog shoes, good underwear.

Board Stiff is a board/skate shop. Also insanely expensive. Note that all these stores mentioned are located under the same roof, the Houghen centre. Jackets range about $250-$300 (dubious 'on sale' prices as well) and they carry good name brands, Roxy, Split, Dex, Hurley, etc.

Coast Mountain Sports/Sportslife/Sportslodge all sort of joined together next to Board Stiff. Carry a huge variety of winter/outdoorwear/hiking/camping/footwear items. Very expensive but do have sales that are marginally better than Seasons or Board Stiff. Also offer downhill and cross-country skis and supplies, boots, waxes, sharpeners.

Marks' Work Wearhouse one of the aforementioned 'big box stores'. Nothing special. Sales often, not sure if they are worth it sometimes. Bought a pair of wool gloves in November that are worn through already. Enough said.

Wal-Mart sadly another big option for shopping, particularly clothes. Good sales.

Sandors is an interesting store. Caters to the gangster-thug style, clown outfits of flat-brimmed baseball cap wearing children, 'Baby Phat' style and brand and baggy jeans. Word is they are prohibitively expensive.

Fields a low-rent option. Haven't been inside.

Wearhouse One is a womens/mens clothing shop. Clothes appear very improbable for the climate, aka, trashy. Fairly cheap and good sales, but look fairly cheap. Known for low-quality jeans, like Guess but without the niche Paris Hilton appeal.

Superstore actually has some interesting clothes courtesy of line 'Joe Fresh.' I wouldn't count them out

Intersport located in the Houghen centre, kind of a bizarre location on top of the Shoppers Drug Mart plaza. Mainly outwerwear, Colulmbia jackets, have swimsuits for summer. Owner was trying to talk someone into a ponzi/pyramid scheme when I visited the store. Loudly.

Climate Clothing a neat little shop, kind of out of the way though. Sells organic/hemp/cotton work-appropriate dresses, shirts and pants. Also sells a variety of workout gear. Expensive but sales are pretty decent. Nice stuff, doesn't scream HIPPIE like you'd think.

Northern Hempisphere in the same vein as Climate Clothing. Must be seen to be appreciated! Unsure about sales though...

Alpine Bra Boutique is apparently the best way to go, if you are well-endowed. Not cheap, think about $80 for a well-made and professionally fitted undergarment.

Reitman's guess you could call it 'big box' even though it is kind of small. Women's clothes, very reasonable prices. Nothing special.

Wild Wardrobe designer-ish clothing for older women, career-clothes. Expensive.

Zoomz women's fasion. Located underneath the Shoppers Drug Mart on Main St. Cheetah-print crepe tops prominently displayed. Yawn.

There are a number of consignment/thrift shops. That will come in a later blog! Also there is a child's clothing store on Main St. but I decided not go to there. Children are not discerning consumers, and therefore don't count.

A review of MOONSTROKE

You know, it was great.

The venue had me alarmed in the beginning. The Mt. MacIntyre recreational centre isn't traditionally the venue for a rock-out fest, but as the night went on, it got more awesome.

Along one wall was a dizzying arrangement of items available for silent auction. Energy drinks, board shorts, carwashes, Raven paintings...you name it, it was there. The best part about the entire night- the $5 beer, the silent auction, the rockout music? It all goes to support the Mae Bachur Humane Society. Never have I attended an event that supports a charity I overwhelmingly agree with!

I unfortunately was designated driving, so no animal-supporting beers for me!
We dropped in for the opening of Crash the Car, which was definitely an interesting and trippy set.
The John Taylor (I honestly can't remember this band's name, so my best guess is this..) came up next, and all I could think was, what about the dueling banjo's, a la 'Deliverance'
Next was Speed Control. At this point, everyone was still dance-shy, so they squashed themselves along the main corridors, making it hard to get around. The dance floor was so empty you could host a ballroom dance on it.
Speed Control sounded quite a bit like a bunch of bands that I like, gone acoustic. Think Dashboard Confessional...
The main dude of Speed Control had stage presence. He pranced, flung, rocked, jumped, squirmed and left the stage. I think this band is really going somewhere. CHS came on next with some awesome covers. From A-Z (ending with Led Zeppelin) they rocked out with everyone's favourites. Biggest surprise of the night? The Beatles 'Twist 'n' Shout' had everyone swinging on the floor. I still can't believe the Beatles did that one.
Finally, Sophisticated Cave Music showed up to close Moonstruck. They surprised me, being a reggae-roots-cajun kind of swingy band. Very danceable.

In short, Moonstruck was totally worth the $10. C'mon, it was $10 and entire night of fun and frivolity. You missed it? You missed OUT!

Ski Day!

Warmed up to -6 and finally had a chance to check out the downhill ski mountain, "Mt. Sima."

How was it? Surprisingly great! One chairlift, and one t-bar lift, and some looooong runs. One 'black diamond' run for experts, two 'blue squares' for intermediates, and two 'green circles' for bunnies. They all link into each other, and inside one of the blue runs is a snowpark, for tricks.

Word of warning- these are some intense blue squares. I found the beginning of the runs fairly tough for an intermediate run, and I am definitely not a bunny skiier! My suggestion to those on their first time out-start on the green, then switch to blue when you've got the rhythm down.

The runs are great, interesting and varied, quite long and wide. Not too crowded and the wait at the chairlift is totally light. A half-day of skiing 12pm-4 will run you $20, rentals (boots and skiis) cost $24/person. All in all, pretty good bang for your buck at this run. Better than the dog-and-pony show I was expecting!

The parking lot is tiny, if you come for the half-day be prepared to park up the road a bit. The chalet is likewise lacking in space...people and gear are swarming the cafeteria!

Oh and another note- watch out for teeny-bopper-tweenies causing shit. While we were enjoying a lovely sugary coffee and fries during our break from skiing, our serenity was rudely interrupted by an entitled little asshat screaming profanities at the nice Ski Patrol man who was attempting to remove the little shit's lift pass for misbehaviour and breaking ski boundaries.

The RCMP were summarily summoned. Need I say more? Oh and the little goon has his pack of miscreants backing him up. Trust me, the RCMP do not like to be informed of your rights, particularly when they are profanity-laden and posturing like a mini-thugster.

All in all, a great day! Man my legs were killing me. I will definitely be back.